photos by hiroshi ueda | click to enlarge
Casa Sakanoue is much more than a house. It’s a gallery, a community center, as well as an event space. It was roughly four years ago when Yuko Manago first had the idea to for a space where people could come look, listen, smell, taste and touch. Having grown up around art and music, Manago’s vision began to take form after she got married gave birth to a child. She decided to reach out to architect Kazuhiko Kishimoto, who she had seen on television once and admired ever since.
This is how, back in May of 2013, on a sloped backstreet just off a busy road, Casa Sakanoue quietly opened. From afar the structure, where Manago also lives, appears to be just a large wooden box. But as you approach the structure, they dynamic architecture becomes more apparent. The stilts appear to lift the box into the sky and a large staircase welcomes visitors as it offers glimpses of the inner courtyard.
Casa Sakanoue (literally, at the top of a slope) is just off Hiyoshi station, which is about 45 minutes south of central Tokyo. Its strategic location allows access not only to the lush forest behind it, but also views of Mt. Fuji. They’ve hosted everything from Rakugo storytelling to aroma therapy workshops. If you’re looking for a unique space to host your next event, this might be it.
A courtyard with a carved out circular bench allows for a more intimate setting.
August 3, 2013 at 10:47 am
Crazily gorgeous and a piece of art. A true work of art. I couldn’t live there. Living there would be a statement. “I’m living in a piece of art.” How do you feel when you enter your lovely piece of art and sit in your hard minimalist furniture? That’s a true question. How do you feel in that home?
It’s gorgeous and art-tastic, but how do you live in a place that gives no respect to the sloppiness that is human life? Human life is sloppy. I love it and admire the art that went into creating it. I’d never live there. I’d visit it as a piece of amazing art.
August 3, 2013 at 10:54 am
Oh, for God’s sake I do understand it wasn’t meant to be a home but TONS of people’s visions look like this and I’m sort of taken aback. That’s what I was saying. Who lives in a minimalist piece of art? And why? NOTE I’m note denigrating this place. It’s magnificent.